How did Jesus fulfill Passover? Part 2

According to Exodus 12 there were five basic requirements for celebrating Passover.

1. Set aside a lamb on the 10th of Nisan- one without defect 
2. Slaughter the lamb on the 14th - but don’t break any bones 
3. Put some of the lamb’s blood on the sides and top of the doorframe 
4. Finish the Passover on the 14th - don't let it spill over into the next day 
5. Celebrate the Passover perpetually

In this post I'll show you how Jesus fulfilled requirement #2.

The second requirement of Passover was that the lamb had to be slaughtered on the 14th. And God commanded that none of the bones were to be broken during the slaughtering process.

Notice the first parallel between the Passover lamb and Jesus...

1. As the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the 14th day of Nisan, so Jesus was crucified on the 14th day of Nisan. 

And notice with me the similarities between the Passover lamb and Jesus (the Lamb of God) on that day.

• By 9am on the day of the Passover the Jews were busy with preparations for sacrifice. This was the exact time (9am) that Jesus was nailed to the cross. We read in Mark 15:25 “Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.” The third hour was 9am in Jewish time. At the same time the Jews were making preparations for sacrifice, Jesus was prepared to die by being nailed to a cross. 
• At 3pm the people were slaughtering their lambs. I know a Jewish pastor named David. He's a Christian who annually celebrates Passover. We worked on this message together and he told me that the last sacrifice took place by 3pm. When the priest had slaughtered the last lamb he would say "It is finished." Well, the Bible records that Jesus died at exactly 3pm. We read in Mark 15:33-37 that “…at the ninth hour [3pm Jewish time] Jesus cried out in a loud voice…“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Then] With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. And we know what that last loud cry was, don't we? John 19:30 reveals that Jesus' last loud cry was "It is finished!" 

Now notice the second parallel between the Passover lamb and Jesus...

2. As the Passover lamb was slaughtered without a bone being broken, so Jesus was crucified without a bone being broken. 

We read in John 19:30-37 that the Roman soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves who were crucified next to Jesus - but when they came to Jesus they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs.

Notice: Jesus died on the same month (Nisan), day (the 14th) and even hour (3pm) as did the Passover lamb.

To summarize: As the Israelites slaughtered a lamb on the 14th of Nisan, so Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nisan. And as the bones of the Passover lamb were preserved, so Jesus’ bones were preserved - not one of them was broken.

So we see that Jesus met the second requirement of Passover. 

Physical Touch

Biblically, there are five ways God expresses his love for us. And these are the five ways that we are to express love to our spouse (and others). In this post we'll unpackage God's fifth expression of love.

5. Physical touch 

When the children came to Jesus in Mark 10 the Bible records that "...he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them." When Jesus' disciples assumed Jesus was too important to bother with children, Jesus showed his love for the children with appropriate, loving touch.

Both my sister and brother in law are nurses at Bay State and were telling my wife how they now require mother and baby to have one hour of skin to skin time. They've come to realize how important physical touch is in promoting physical health, so it's now something they require.

Well, it's not just babies that need physical touch. Marriages need it too! Physical touch is a powerful vehicle for communicating marital love. Holding hands, kissing, snuggling and good ol’ fashioned sexual intercourse are all ways of communicating love to one’s spouse.

Yet sadly, Satan has really got us all mixed up on this point. Before we’re married he works overtime to get us in bed. After we’re married he works overtime to keep us out of bed. He doesn’t mind if we sleep in our pretty secretary’s (or co-worker’s) bed or our neighbor’s spouse’s bed, but he does everything in his power to keep us away from each other. Now there’s more to physical touch than just sex, but sex is certainly an important component of physical touch within a marriage relationship.

While not touching in marriage can be a sign of sickness, appropriate loving touches can bring healing.

• In Matthew 8:1-4 a man with leprosy came to Jesus. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. Immediately the man was cleansed of his leprosy. 
• In Matthew 8:14-15 Jesus came to Peter’s house and saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. 
• In Matthew 9:27-29 two blind men came to Jesus. Jesus touched their eyes and they were healed. 

Jesus shows us there is healing in physical touch. And for some of you, physical touch is what’s missing and what will bring healing to your marriage. When you make a point to give appropriate, loving touches to your spouse, you take one step closer to God’s ideal for marriage. We read in Genesis 2:24 that God’s ideal for marriage is for a man to leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife and that the two would become one flesh. This speaks of physical intimacy in a marriage.

This might sound unromantic, but if your sex life is suffering because you’re just leaving it up to chance - you may need to put a little reminder on your phone or calendar. This is too important to leave to chance. You probably schedule everything else in your life - why not schedule some time for physical touch? If we’re not intentional about sex, it oftentimes ends up getting squeezed out of our overly busy schedule. Don’t save it for the very last thing on your agenda for the day, you will almost always be “too tired”. Make it a priority. Move it too the top of your to do list, instead of at the bottom once everything else is done. The dinner dishes and the laundry can wait, but intimacy can’t.

Keep the Tank Full

To have a healthy and happy marriage, it's important to learn how to keep your spouse's love tank full. 

Christian author Gary Chapman, in his book The Five Love Languages writes "...inside your spouse is an ‘emotional tank’ that is waiting to be filled with love. At the heart of mankind’s existence is the desire to be intimate and loved by another. And God designed marriage to meet this need for intimacy and love. That being the case, keeping your spouse’s emotional love tank full is as important to a marriage as maintaining the proper oil level is to an automobile. Running your marriage on an empty love tank may be even more costly than running your car without oil."

So how do we do it? 

Well, Jesus gives us some insight in Mark 12:29-31 when he said: The most important commandment is this…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

From these verses it's clear that we're to love God and love others, but what does biblical love look like? Fortunately, God hasn't left us hanging. The Bible lays out at least five ways that God expresses his love for us - and these in turn are the five ways that we are to love each other.

Here are five biblical expressions of love that we'll unpackage in the following posts. 

1. Words of Affirmation
Matthew 3:16-17 says: As soon as Jesus was baptized...a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” God showed Jesus he loved him by speaking kindly to him. 

2. Quality Time
Genesis 3:8-9 reveals that God took time daily to walk and talk with Adam and Eve. God showed Adam and Eve he loved them by spending time with them.

3. Gift Giving
Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." God has shown us how much he loves us by giving us the gift of eternal life (through faith in his Son Jesus).

4. Acts of Service
John 13:4-5 says, "Jesus took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him." Jesus showed his love for his disciples by serving them, and then instructed them to follow his example.

5. Physical Touch
In Mark 10:16 Jesus took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. When Jesus' disciples assumed Jesus was too important to bother with children, Jesus showed his love for the children with appropriate, loving touch. 

These are five ways that God loves us and five great ways that we can express love to our spouse.